Are women people? Do men exist? A new Washington State task force for “Women and People” begs these questions.
NOTE: This is the first of multiple stories we’ve published following this matter. Others include “KING 5 News takes new gender-inclusive approach to coverage of victimized Indigenous people” (Aug 21, 2021) and “Attorney General’s MMIWP Task Force Recommends More Attention on Victimized Men and Boys” (Aug 23, 2022).
Here is a summary of this blog post: Native American men go missing and are murdered in Washington state at roughly equal rates to Native American women. The Washington State Attorney General’s Office announced in May a task force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). The following month, a press release from State Representative Gina Mosbrucker called it the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force. Washington Initiative for Boys and Men contacted Rep. Mosbrucker and the attorney general’s office seeking clarity on the official name and scope of the task force.
Mike Webb, chief of staff to Attorney General Bob Ferguson, told us the task force is called the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP) Task Force. WIBM has responded to Mr. Webb and hopes for further progress toward gender equality and inclusiveness. WIBM has asked 1) Who controls the task force’s name?, and 2) Will they consider changing the name to something like the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Task Force, which would conform with the gender-inclusive language that is becoming standard at the national and state levels when addressing the severe problem of missing and murdered Native American people.
At the bottom of this blog post we include the text of Mike Webb’s email. We also include our response in which we explain why “Women and People” is not good enough and therefore we request further progress toward equality and inclusion.
Not strictly a gendered problem
At the outset, we must establish that Native American victims of violence in Washington are a mix of males, females, and two-spirit people. Girls, boys, women, men, and two-spirit people all go missing and are murdered at unacceptably high rates.
A report by the Washington State Patrol in 2019 recorded 56 missing Indigenous women and 50 missing Indigenous men (see graphic below). It strange make the problem of missing and murdered Indigenous people exclusively about women. There is no rational basis for public officials to continue spotlighting female victims and leaving male victims in darkness.
Rep. Gina Mosbrucker’s leadership toward acknowledging victimized boys and men
Although roughly half of Indigenous people who are missing or murdered are males, legislation and public awareness campaigns across North America have often been about “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,” abbreviated “MMIW”. (Sometimes “and Girls” is added, making the abbreviation “MMIWG”.)
In May 2019, the Washington State Patrol knew of 56 missing Indigenous women and 50 missing Indigenous men, according to their Missing and Murdered Native American Women Report. (Notably, data in this report revealed that among Washington’s 1,803 missing persons of any sex and race, 1,019 of them – or 57% – were male.)
Despite Washington’s history of legislation and awareness campaigns focusing only on Indigenous women, State Representative Gina Mosbrucker is helping steer things in a gender-inclusive direction. Her latest bill on this topic, HB 1571 – which she hopes will pass during the 2022 legislative session – has a title that makes clear the bill is about helping “Indigenous persons”. That is in contrast to her previous two bills on this topic, which were passed in 2018 and 2019. Those bills were specifically about Native American women (HB 2951 and HB 1713).
Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office continues the pattern of excluding male victims – at first…
A press release from the Washington State Office of the Attorney General on May 5, 2021 announced the establishment of a task force on “Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)” that will “assess systemic causes behind the high rate of disappearances and murders of Indigenous women.” Here is a screenshot of the news release:
State Representative Debra Lekanoff (D-Bow) is quoted in the press release as saying, “…even one girl missing is too many…” Certainly Rep. Lekanoff, an Alaska Native and member of the Tlingit tribe, cares about missing boys. Why does she single out girls when boys are missing too?
Senator Manka Dhingra (D-Redmond) says in the the press release, “Washingtonians are not truly aware of the number of Indigenous women who are missing and murdered.” She is correct. However, Washingtonians are at least aware that Indigenous women are missing and murdered. On the flip side, with no help from #MMIW awareness campaigns, Washingtonians don’t even know that Indigenous men are missing and murdered – much less that their numbers are roughly similar to women’s.
Task force’s name changes for the better…sort of
Several weeks after the press release by the attorney general’s office, State Representative Gina Mosbrucker (R-Goldendale) issued a press release announcing her appointment to the task force, which she called a “task force for Missing and and Murdered Indigenous Women and People”. Here is a screenshot of that press release:
At this point, we were confused about whether the new task force is about Indigenous women, per the attorney general, or “Indigenous women and people,” per Rep. Mosbrucker. Also, does a task force for “women and people” imply that women are not people? Does it intentionally erase the existence of men? How can one make sense of something being formulated as benefitting “women and people”?
What is the deal with a task force on “Women and People”?
On June 26, we contacted the offices of the attorney general and Rep. Mosbrucker to ascertain the correct title and scope of the task force. On July 1, we received an email from Mike Webb, chief of staff to Attorney General Bob Ferguson, stating that the task force is called the “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP) Task Force.”
Why are Washington state officials so reluctant to follow the example set by the federal government and other states of using gender-inclusive language, such as “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons”? We raised that question in our response to Mike Webb, chief of staff to the Washington state attorney general. Read his email and our response below.
Email from Mike Webb (July 1, 2021)
Thank you for your inquiry. Your point is well-made. Our office is naming the task force the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP) Task Force. The focus of the work will involve all missing indigenous people, recognizing that between two-thirds to three-quarters of missing indigenous people are women.
Sincerely,
Mike Webb
Chief of Staff | Office of State Attorney General Bob Ferguson
1125 Washington Street SE | PO Box 40100 | Olympia | WA | 98504-0100
Phone: (206) 735-2815 | Cell: (206) 735-2815 | E-mail: mike.webb@atg.wa.gov
Preferred Pronouns: He/Him/His
Email response from WIBM to Mike Webb (July 1, 2021)
Hello Mike,
Thank you for your helpful email.
Two questions
1. Who ultimately determines the task force’s name? I’d like for you or me to reach out to them to ask that they consider changing it to something fully inclusive of persons of all genders.
- By using “Persons” instead of “Women and People”, it would bring the task force’s name in line with the gender-inclusive language used elsewhere. Here are examples:
- Missing and Murder Indigenous Persons Working Group (mentioned on the Criminal Justice page of the Washington State Attorney General’s website)
- The Presidential Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives
- Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day (example from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Alaska)
- Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Report (example from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Oregon)
2. What is your source for stating two-thirds to three-quarters of missing Indigenous people in Washington are women?
- The report published June 2019 by the Washington State Patrol shows 56 women and 50 men, meaning women were 53% of the missing persons. I’m aware that other groups have issued their own reports.
Background
I understand from your email that, contrary to the language in the attorney general’s May 5 press release, the name of the task force will be “…Women and People…”. That is an improvement over just “Women”. However, a name that is fully inclusive of men would simply be “People”, “Persons”, or “Women and Men”.
“Women and People” is quite a strange formulation. It is a similar use of language as seen elsewhere that betrays an exclusionary approach to men. See for example the first sentence of a press release from the Washington State Interagency Committee of State Employed Women (ICSEW): “ICSEW is sponsoring a gift card and supplies drive for organizations that provide services and resources to women and individuals who are victims of domestic violence.” (emphasis added)
I would like to see Washington State move in a direction that better includes and acknowledges male victims of crimes.
Thanks again, and best regards.
See related WIBM post, National legislation erases the suffering of American Indian men, about gender bias in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)